The record behind the sheet in your tube: the file we worked from, what we measured, which impression we chose and why, what we are allowed to sell, and the framing dimensions for this sheet.
The sheet you have
- Work
- Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival (Asakusa tanbo Torinomachi mōde), from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 1857
- Object
- Colour woodblock print (nishiki-e), ōban, 35.9 × 24.8 cm
- Held by
- The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Chester W. Wright
- Accession
- 1961.147 (AIC object 13192)
- File
- The museum's own IIIF endpoint, 6549 × 9523 px
- Crop
- [94, 117, 6451, 9403] → 6357 × 9286 px, ratio 1.4607
- Printed at
- 40 × 50 cm sheet: image 24.58 × 35.90 cm, original size, 1:1 — 657 dpi available
50 × 70 cm sheet: image 42.00 × 61.35 cm, 1.71× — 384 dpi available
Which impression, and why this one
We are looking out of an upstairs window in the Yoshiwara over the ricefields towards Mount Fuji, and a cat is looking with us. The whole picture depends on colour that fades early: the wash of the evening sky, the pale green of the fields, the cat's warm white against the sill. Chicago's impression still holds all three, which is the reason it is the one we print.
The hairpins and the paper on the sill belong to the room we are standing in and are not explained anywhere on the sheet. Hiroshige leaves it at that, and so do we.
What we measured
The printed block runs 6357 × 9286 px in the museum's file, a ratio of 1.4607 against the catalogued 1.4476 — the difference is the width of a hand-trimmed edge. The scale is anchored on the catalogued sheet height of 35.9 cm. Print files built at a flat 300 dpi; nothing is enlarged in software.
What we are allowed to sell
The work. Hiroshige died in 1858 and the sheet was published in 1857: public domain in every market we ship to.
The photograph. The Art Institute of Chicago publishes images of public-domain works under Creative Commons Zero, for any purpose including commercial use. Taken from the museum's own endpoint, not from an aggregator.
What we do not claim. A giclée reproduction printed with pigment inks. Not a woodblock print, and not sold as one.
Framing this sheet
- 40 × 50 cm sheet
- A 40 × 50 cm frame, no mat. Nearest standard 16 × 20 in. Margins 7.71 cm each side, 6.56 above, 7.54 below.
- 50 × 70 cm sheet
- A 50 × 70 cm frame. Nearest standard 20 × 28 in. Margins 4.00 cm each side, 4.02 above, 4.63 below.
- If you mat it
- Go one frame size up and cut the window three millimetres inside the printed image on every side. Do not trim the sheet.
Please measure before you buy or cut. These figures describe the file we print from. Sheets are cut by machine to about a millimetre and frames vary between makers. We replace a print that arrives damaged or wrong; we cannot replace a frame or mat that turns out not to fit.
All records: museartis.com/pages/sheet-records · Questions: info@museartis.com